Ask HN: What are some cool or underrated tech companies based in Canada?

89 pointspedrodelfino8mo ago62 comments

I'm based in Canada and curious to learn more about interesting or up-and-coming tech companies here — not just the usual big names like Shopify or Lightspeed, but also smaller startups, bootstrapped companies, or niche players doing great work in software, hardware, AI, sustainability, fintech, etc.

62 comments

bnchrch8mo ago

Heres a few:

https://layerzero.network/

https://1password.com/

https://www.wealthsimple.com/

https://floatcard.com

https://www.postgrid.com

https://www.dapperlabs.com

https://www.wattpad.com

https://gusto.com

https://cohere.com

https://clear.co/ https://www.clio.com/

kimos8mo ago

Clio is a gem. I know a few great people who Shopify chewed through that ended up there and are happy.

allanmacgregor8mo ago

Gusto is not canadian.

loloquwowndueo8mo ago

HTTPS://transit.app is amazing for public transport routing. Gives you a lot more information than the stock mapping apps. Some of the things they do are pure black magic.

shrinks998mo ago

Their 2016 post on how they render their lines is really nice and full of cool images: https://blog.transitapp.com/how-we-built-the-worlds-pretties...

jason-at-spare8mo ago

I work at https://spare.com/

We make tools for transit agencies to manage paratransit and microtransit services, mainly for people with disabilities but also for campuses and low-density areas. Managing these types of services is a real, hard problem with billions spent every year.

Our customers include Winnipeg, Oakville, St John, Saskatoon, and Powell River (also Dallas, LA, Austin, more in Japan and Europe), with more coming soon - including driverless vehicles with routing and scheduling powered by us.

We're Vancouver-based, and we're hiring :)

halfdaft8mo ago

SideFX, makers of VFX software Houdini https://www.sidefx.com/

And Derivative, makers of video & interactive software Touch Designer https://derivative.ca/

(Both packages have a shared origin I believe)

helsontaveras188mo ago

I think we’re pretty cool! https://www.trykeep.com

500isbest8mo ago

Urbanlogiq: https://urbanlogiq.com/

Saw their big announcement at Web Summit which stood out: https://urbanlogiq.com/global-foundation-model/

D-wave also had a presence at Web Summit and also seem to be doing well: https://www.dwavequantum.com/

iamjs8mo ago

We are building some exciting cloud deployment tools at https://defang.io.

We are making it super easy to manage your deployments through the compose.yaml file you probably already have. The idea is to have a single definition of your application, that you can use locally, and project it into any cloud.

We're a small team based in Vancouver. If you're in town, reach out and come visit: jordan.stephens@defang.io

juliend28mo ago

https://vention.io :

1. Design some machinery online with their 3d modeling tool

2. Order the parts

3. Assemble your machine and deploy it

propter_hoc8mo ago

https://sabotagestudio.com/ near Quebec City, they made the amazing 2D JRPG Sea of Stars https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Stars

Very excellent takeoff of Chrono Trigger or Lufia 2 type SNES games. Truly exceptional.

supportengineer8mo ago

Jobber ( https://www.getjobber.com )

mattbettinson8mo ago

I make https://voicecast.app/ and I’m based in Toronto :P

I also work at https://www.getjobber.com/ which is based in Edmonton.

toomuchtodo8mo ago

Voicecast looks awesome. Are you considering a video version?

Thanks for commenting, would’ve never found your product otherwise.

mattbettinson8mo ago

As in sending video messages? That would be intriguing! I’d never considered it.

No problem! Are you a podcaster?

1 more reply

Nickste8mo ago

Safety (previously PyUp) - https://getsafety.com - software supply chain security. Offices in Vancouver but team is all over Canada. Raised a large seed round from First Round and others.

jonathonlacher8mo ago

https://getmysa.com/ - their bread and butter are line voltage “smart” thermostats.

I have a few in my home, they say they’re based in St. John’s.

evo_98mo ago

Sparx - they make a great high tech home skate sharpener. Me and just about every serious player I know own one:

https://sparxhockey.com/

burningChrome8mo ago

These are insanely popular in the US too. And I can verify that most of the guys I play with own one. They say their kids teams travel with four or five so the kids get their skates tuned before every game.

That product was an absolute game changer.

mitthrowaway28mo ago

Here are some worthy ones I know of in Vancouver:

AbCellera (biotech)

General Fusion (fusion energy)

Rapidia (metal 3D printing)

Human in Motion Robotics (exoskeletons)

Grin Technologies (ebike components)

Arca climate technologies (atmospheric CO2 removal via mine tailings)

wingdroid8mo ago

Plug from Ontario:

TenantFit - https://tenantfit.mtxvp.com/

Helping landlords to simplify rental pre-screening process without collecting sensitive information from tenancy candidates.

justcallmejm8mo ago

https://aloe.inc Check out Aloe - the founding team left the Bay Area to found the company in Vancouver to have better access to top international talent. Here's a peek at what we're building: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6M5wSv6pyU

dchadha8mo ago

https://www.magicboard.ai -

We are building MagicBoard which is a smart board that helps kids learn and develop structure in a way that’s interactive, age appropriate and fosters independence.

It comes to life through a dedicated device for kids with no passive content and a parent app that has an AI based assistant for the parent.

rusticrover8mo ago

I've been a https://JMP.chat customer for years and love the service. The whole software stack is free, open source, and self-hostable, and the entity behind it is a Canadian worker-owned co-operative.

xvaier8mo ago

https://flare.io is a cybersecurity platform based in Montréal.

norrsson8mo ago

https://www.landr.com/ has been around for a while with its automated audio mastering service and it's now a one-stop-shop for everything related to music production. There's also really cool stuff coming up in a few months:)

PeterWhittaker8mo ago

Self-serving mention of https://sphyrnasecurity.com/ - we're a bootstrapped cybersecurity company with two main product lines: cross-domain hardware and GRC/IRM software.

neilcawse8mo ago

https://www.geotab.com

OfflineSergio8mo ago

https://www.helcim.com/ and https://www.koho.ca/ come to mind as ell but didn’t see anyone mention them.

dacox8mo ago

Plugging ourselves, Lumen5 based out of Vancouver. I was one of the first hires found trough the HN hiring thread many moons ago. https://lumen5.com/

ghssds8mo ago

Aylo, based in Montreal, operate some of the most popular social media and online video sharing platforms. It also own many renowned movie studios. Probably among the top five users of internet bandwidth in the world

greenavocado8mo ago

Aylo is a Canadian multinational pornographic conglomerate owned by Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners.

Ethical Capital Partners is a Canadian private equity firm best known for its acquisition of Aylo, the owner of Pornhub. The company is chaired by businessman Rocco Meliambro

red-iron-pine8mo ago

formerly Manwin

rawgabbit8mo ago

I am customer of Coveo enterprise search. https://www.coveo.com/en/company/about-us

henrythe9th8mo ago

Ruchi (Sr Dir of Eng at Dropbox) and Ashwin (Employee #1 at Rippling) at https://maplebilling.com/ are top notch!

mosura8mo ago

CentML was pretty interesting but just got bought by nvidia.

Tailscale regularly pops up.

mynegation8mo ago

Oh wow, congrats to Gena!

sheepybloke8mo ago

One of the coolest ones in my opinion is Xiphos Systems. Lots of cool space hardware!

https://xiphos.com/

skrhee8mo ago

https://enurgen.com/

They work on modeling solar energy projects, great group.

samsullivan8mo ago

Im building https://cardog.app out of Toronto

Trying to make car research, buying and ownership easy

GregDavidson8mo ago

My Twiddler comes from Winnipeg -- https://www.mytwiddler.com/

NalNezumi8mo ago

SanctuaryAI https://www.sanctuary.ai/

Making humanoid robots for a while

holiveros8mo ago

https://shakepay.com/ - Nice easy to use crypto Fintech

er0k8mo ago

sourcebot https://www.sourcebot.dev/

nunez8mo ago

I interviewed at Wrapbook a few years ago and really liked them. They're worth a look! Based out of Toronto, IIRC.

geophph8mo ago

Plotly

https://plotly.com/about-us/

aprdm8mo ago

So many great companies, thanks for starting this & people for sharing

holyroller8mo ago

I did come to enjoy Arctic Wolf's approach to Cybersecurity training.

scubakid8mo ago

check out Lunch Money: https://lunchmoney.app/ - they've grown from a solopreneur story to now a small team

deepspace8mo ago

Taiv is a Ycombinator backed company hailing from Winnipeg

holyroller8mo ago

One to stay away from is Mattermost

abuani8mo ago

Why is that? I feel like every other go security vulnerability was reported by a security researcher there, so I assumed they have a decent engineering culture.

holyroller8mo ago

You're right they are one of the largest Go-based applications and get asked to test go releases.

My opinion is they have a poor engineering culture though and worse leadership that is abandoning open-source roots, chasing "mission critical" government/enterprise business.

mrPurplePinkie8mo ago

https:\\soti.net

Enterprise Mobile Management

erichocean8mo ago

SideFX

feraldidactic8mo ago

Opentext

throwaway1x2y3z8mo ago

Tigera - K8 security - Vancouver

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

62 comments

bnchrch8mo ago

Heres a few:

https://layerzero.network/

https://1password.com/

https://www.wealthsimple.com/

https://floatcard.com

https://www.postgrid.com

https://www.dapperlabs.com

https://www.wattpad.com

https://gusto.com

https://cohere.com

https://clear.co/ https://www.clio.com/

kimos8mo ago

Clio is a gem. I know a few great people who Shopify chewed through that ended up there and are happy.

allanmacgregor8mo ago

Gusto is not canadian.

loloquwowndueo8mo ago

HTTPS://transit.app is amazing for public transport routing. Gives you a lot more information than the stock mapping apps. Some of the things they do are pure black magic.

shrinks998mo ago

Their 2016 post on how they render their lines is really nice and full of cool images: https://blog.transitapp.com/how-we-built-the-worlds-pretties...

jason-at-spare8mo ago

I work at https://spare.com/

We're Vancouver-based, and we're hiring :)

halfdaft8mo ago

SideFX, makers of VFX software Houdini https://www.sidefx.com/

And Derivative, makers of video & interactive software Touch Designer https://derivative.ca/

(Both packages have a shared origin I believe)

helsontaveras188mo ago

I think we’re pretty cool! https://www.trykeep.com

500isbest8mo ago

Urbanlogiq: https://urbanlogiq.com/

Saw their big announcement at Web Summit which stood out: https://urbanlogiq.com/global-foundation-model/

D-wave also had a presence at Web Summit and also seem to be doing well: https://www.dwavequantum.com/

iamjs8mo ago

We are building some exciting cloud deployment tools at https://defang.io.

We're a small team based in Vancouver. If you're in town, reach out and come visit: jordan.stephens@defang.io

juliend28mo ago

https://vention.io :

1. Design some machinery online with their 3d modeling tool

2. Order the parts

3. Assemble your machine and deploy it

propter_hoc8mo ago

https://sabotagestudio.com/ near Quebec City, they made the amazing 2D JRPG Sea of Stars https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_of_Stars

Very excellent takeoff of Chrono Trigger or Lufia 2 type SNES games. Truly exceptional.

supportengineer8mo ago

Jobber ( https://www.getjobber.com )

mattbettinson8mo ago

I make https://voicecast.app/ and I’m based in Toronto :P

I also work at https://www.getjobber.com/ which is based in Edmonton.

toomuchtodo8mo ago

Voicecast looks awesome. Are you considering a video version?

Thanks for commenting, would’ve never found your product otherwise.

mattbettinson8mo ago

As in sending video messages? That would be intriguing! I’d never considered it.

No problem! Are you a podcaster?

1 more reply

Nickste8mo ago

Safety (previously PyUp) - https://getsafety.com - software supply chain security. Offices in Vancouver but team is all over Canada. Raised a large seed round from First Round and others.

jonathonlacher8mo ago

https://getmysa.com/ - their bread and butter are line voltage “smart” thermostats.

I have a few in my home, they say they’re based in St. John’s.

evo_98mo ago

Sparx - they make a great high tech home skate sharpener. Me and just about every serious player I know own one:

https://sparxhockey.com/

burningChrome8mo ago

That product was an absolute game changer.

mitthrowaway28mo ago

Here are some worthy ones I know of in Vancouver:

AbCellera (biotech)

General Fusion (fusion energy)

Rapidia (metal 3D printing)

Human in Motion Robotics (exoskeletons)

Grin Technologies (ebike components)

Arca climate technologies (atmospheric CO2 removal via mine tailings)

wingdroid8mo ago

Plug from Ontario:

TenantFit - https://tenantfit.mtxvp.com/

Helping landlords to simplify rental pre-screening process without collecting sensitive information from tenancy candidates.

justcallmejm8mo ago

dchadha8mo ago

https://www.magicboard.ai -

We are building MagicBoard which is a smart board that helps kids learn and develop structure in a way that’s interactive, age appropriate and fosters independence.

It comes to life through a dedicated device for kids with no passive content and a parent app that has an AI based assistant for the parent.

rusticrover8mo ago

xvaier8mo ago

https://flare.io is a cybersecurity platform based in Montréal.

norrsson8mo ago

PeterWhittaker8mo ago

Self-serving mention of https://sphyrnasecurity.com/ - we're a bootstrapped cybersecurity company with two main product lines: cross-domain hardware and GRC/IRM software.

neilcawse8mo ago

https://www.geotab.com

OfflineSergio8mo ago

https://www.helcim.com/ and https://www.koho.ca/ come to mind as ell but didn’t see anyone mention them.

dacox8mo ago

Plugging ourselves, Lumen5 based out of Vancouver. I was one of the first hires found trough the HN hiring thread many moons ago. https://lumen5.com/

ghssds8mo ago

greenavocado8mo ago

Aylo is a Canadian multinational pornographic conglomerate owned by Canadian private equity firm Ethical Capital Partners.

Ethical Capital Partners is a Canadian private equity firm best known for its acquisition of Aylo, the owner of Pornhub. The company is chaired by businessman Rocco Meliambro

red-iron-pine8mo ago

formerly Manwin

rawgabbit8mo ago

I am customer of Coveo enterprise search. https://www.coveo.com/en/company/about-us

henrythe9th8mo ago

Ruchi (Sr Dir of Eng at Dropbox) and Ashwin (Employee #1 at Rippling) at https://maplebilling.com/ are top notch!

mosura8mo ago

CentML was pretty interesting but just got bought by nvidia.

Tailscale regularly pops up.

mynegation8mo ago

Oh wow, congrats to Gena!

sheepybloke8mo ago

One of the coolest ones in my opinion is Xiphos Systems. Lots of cool space hardware!

https://xiphos.com/

skrhee8mo ago

https://enurgen.com/

They work on modeling solar energy projects, great group.

samsullivan8mo ago

Im building https://cardog.app out of Toronto

Trying to make car research, buying and ownership easy

GregDavidson8mo ago

My Twiddler comes from Winnipeg -- https://www.mytwiddler.com/

NalNezumi8mo ago

SanctuaryAI https://www.sanctuary.ai/

Making humanoid robots for a while

holiveros8mo ago

https://shakepay.com/ - Nice easy to use crypto Fintech

er0k8mo ago

sourcebot https://www.sourcebot.dev/

nunez8mo ago

I interviewed at Wrapbook a few years ago and really liked them. They're worth a look! Based out of Toronto, IIRC.

geophph8mo ago

Plotly

https://plotly.com/about-us/

aprdm8mo ago

So many great companies, thanks for starting this & people for sharing

holyroller8mo ago

I did come to enjoy Arctic Wolf's approach to Cybersecurity training.

scubakid8mo ago

check out Lunch Money: https://lunchmoney.app/ - they've grown from a solopreneur story to now a small team

deepspace8mo ago

Taiv is a Ycombinator backed company hailing from Winnipeg

holyroller8mo ago

One to stay away from is Mattermost

abuani8mo ago

Why is that? I feel like every other go security vulnerability was reported by a security researcher there, so I assumed they have a decent engineering culture.

holyroller8mo ago

You're right they are one of the largest Go-based applications and get asked to test go releases.

My opinion is they have a poor engineering culture though and worse leadership that is abandoning open-source roots, chasing "mission critical" government/enterprise business.

mrPurplePinkie8mo ago

https:\\soti.net

Enterprise Mobile Management

erichocean8mo ago

SideFX

feraldidactic8mo ago

Opentext

throwaway1x2y3z8mo ago

Tigera - K8 security - Vancouver

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse